The present invention relates to a flexible liquid crystal display panel mounting structure to ensure a predetermined curvature at a bend in a flexible liquid crystal display panel, thereby preventing the bend from damage and degradation.
A liquid crystal display device has been widely used for display with personal computers, TVs and so forth. Since this conventional liquid crystal display device usually has a construction in which a liquid crystal for displaying characters and the like is held between sheets of hard glass, it cannot provide a display with bending.
Incidentally, portable electronic equipment, typified by portable information terminals called notebook personal computers, electronic notebooks and PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), has its not-shown main body and lid coupled by hinge or similar means so that its entire structure folds flat into two to comply with a request for reduction its size and weight.
In the case of mounting the conventional liquid crystal display device on the portable electronic equipment of such a construction, separate liquid crystal display devices are mounted on the main body and the lid, respectively, and the both devices are interconnected by predetermined signal lines to form a single large display screen with the main body and the lid opened. Such technical means is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-5/298257, JP-U-5/43218, and JP-A-8/248895.
The reason for the formation of such a large display screen by mounting a liquid crystal display device on each of the main body and the cover is that one large liquid crystal display device cannot be mounted on the portable electronic equipment across its folding portion since the liquid crystal display device cannot be bent as referred to above. As a result, display images are discontinuous at the folding portion and hence are hard to see; thus, there has been a demand for the development of a liquid crystal display device that produce a display in its entirety even if bent.
Under such circumstances, a liquid crystal display device capable of providing a display even if bent has recently been developed. For example, according to Nihon Keizai Shimbun dated May 26, 1997, it was reported that a soft and freely bendable liquid crystal display device like a film had been developed by a research team at Kyushu University.
This liquid crystal display device has about the same hardness as that of a photographic negative film and is applicable to a large-area display device; it is considered to have a wide variety of applications such as an advertising poster to be wrapped around a pole and a thin instrument board to be pasted on a windshield, and it is expected that this display device has wide application areas. More specifically, this liquid crystal display device is made freely bendable by holding the liquid crystal between film-like, soft high molecular members in place of sheets of hard glass.
Accordingly, a single large display screen, over which no display images are discontinuous, can now be realized by mounting such a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9cflexible liquid crystal display panelxe2x80x9d) on portable electronic equipment across its folding portion as depicted in FIGS. 19 through 21.
FIG. 19 is a side view showing the state in which the flexible liquid crystal display panel is mounted on conventional portable electronic equipment, FIG. 20 a side view showing the flexible liquid crystal display panel when the portable electronic equipment is folded flat into two, and FIG. 21 an enlarged side view showing the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel. In the drawings, reference numeral 11 denotes a main body of the portable electronic equipment, 12 a lid, and 13 a hinge or similar coupling means by which the lid 12 is openably and closably coupled to the main body 11. Reference numeral 14 denotes a flexible liquid crystal display panel fixedly secured to the main body 11 and the lid 12 over the entire their surface areas, and 14a a bend that forms near the coupling means 13 when the flexible liquid crystal display panel 14 is folded. Incidentally, the bend 14a and its vicinity of the flexible liquid crystal display panel 14 are not fixed to the main body 11 and the lid 12 so that they do not hinder the bending of the panel.
Reference character xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d denotes a gap defined between top and bottom flexible liquid crystal display panel portions 14 and 14 so as to enable the bend 14a to maintain a predetermined curvature when the lid 12 is closed.
Since the conventional mounting structure for the flexible liquid crystal display panel has such a construction as described above, minimization of the gap xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d is needed to meet the request for low-profile, miniature portable electronic equipment; on the other hand, the reduction in the gap xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d decreases the curvature of the bend 14a, too, giving rise to a problem that the bend 14a becomes more likely to be damaged and degraded with an increase in the frequency of opening and closing of the lid 12, i.e. the frequency of folding and unfolding of the flexible liquid crystal display panel 14.
The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problem and has for its object to provide a flexible liquid crystal display panel mounting structure that is capable of preventing the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel from damage and degradation even if its folding and unfolding frequency increases.
According to the present invention, a clearance groove for receiving the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel that is formed by folding a liquid crystal display panel mounting member is provided near the folding portion of the liquid crystal display panel mounting member, by which the bend is received in the clearance groove with a sufficient curvature when the liquid crystal display panel mounting member is folded. With this structure, it is possible to prevent the bend from damage and degradation even if the bending frequency of the flexible liquid crystal display panel increases.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, clearance groove is provided so that its opposite end portions in its lengthwise direction are not exposed onto side surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel mounting member. This provides for enhanced appearance of the side surfaces of the liquid crystal display panel mounting member.
Moreover, according to the present invention, a stopper for keeping the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel from getting out of the clearance groove when the display panel is bent is provided on the liquid crystal display panel mounting member. This makes it possible to keep the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel from getting out of the clearance groove when the display panel is bent, enabling the bend to smoothly enter the clearance groove.
Besides, according to present invention, a stopper is provided which couples the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel and the clearance groove opposite thereto to prevent the bend from getting out of the clearance groove when the display panel is bent. This secures the appearance of the display screen and, at the same time, prevents the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel from getting out of the clearance groove when the display panel is bent, enabling the bend to smoothly enter the clearance groove.
In addition, according to the present invention, a stopper is provided in the clearance groove which keeps the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel from getting out of the clearance groove when the display panel is bent and which guides the bend into the clearance groove while following the movement of the bend when it enters the clearance groove. This enables the bend to enter the clearance groove surely and smoothly regardless of the extent to which the bend enters the clearance groove.
Additionally, according to the present invention, a folding angle limiting member is mounted on the liquid crystal display panel mounting member to limit the folding angle of the liquid crystal display panel mounting member so that the included angle, which is formed between the flexible liquid crystal display panel members by the folding of the liquid crystal display panel mounting member, does not exceed 180 degrees. This prevents breakage of the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel by excessive opening of the liquid crystal display panel mounting member.
And, according to the present invention, the stopper is made of a transparent material. By this, it is possible to prevent that display images on the flexible liquid display panel are not discontinuous at the position where the stopper is disposed.
Besides, according to the present invention, a warp preventive member is disposed between the bend and the stopper. By this, it is possible to keep the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel from warping and hence prevent distortion of display images.
Moreover, according to the present invention, the stopper is formed by a wire-like member. This permits reduction of the space where to provide the stopper.
In addition, according to the present invention, the stopper is formed by a plate-like member. This secures large strength than the stopper formed by a wire-like member.
Additionally, according to the present invention, a touch-sensitive input operating part through which data can be entered by touching is provided as an integral part of the flexible liquid crystal display panel. This contributes to making the display screen large in a limited space.
Besides, according to the present invention, the clearance groove is curved in section. This enables the bend in the flexible liquid crystal display panel to smoothly enter the clearance groove and reduces their contact friction, effectively preventing the bend from damage and degradation by abrasion.